Greetings from Bangkok.
As far as I can tell, current browsers (eg. Netscape 4.6, 4.7)
have done away with <WBR>, but still do not implement the
zero-width space &#x200B; (the decimal doesn't work either).
I realize that <WBR> has long been a deprecated feature, but it
has been the only way to obtain a necessary functionality. The
current situation breaks almost all html pages -- most painfully,
those on CD and/or in indexed archives -- for non-segmented
languages like Lao, Khmer, Burmese, Thai and dozens of others
in Southeast Asia.
-- Is anybody currently speaking up for the interests of the alphabetic,
non-segmented writing systems of SEA? Who?
-- Do W3 or the major players _believe_ that somebody _is_
speaking up? Who?
My assumption is that Chinese and Japanese -- which pose easier
problems for minimal 'weak' (not complete, but not incorrect)
segmentation -- have dominated discussion, and led to the notion
that this is a solved problem. It ain't. Nor are algorithms like maximal
matching at render-time much of a solution.
I'm raising this issue now both in the hope of resurrecting <wbr>,
and also of helping to make sure that any of the alternatives are
generalizable, and not just 'let's hard wire language X and forget
about the rest.' Any interest?
Best,
Doug Cooper
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doug@th.net (662) 246-8946 fax (662) 246-8789
Southeast Asian Software Research Center, Bangkok
http://seasrc.th.net --> SEASRC Web site
http://seasrc.th.net/sealang --> SEALANG Web site